1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat panel display device, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for fabricating a flat panel display device that are capable of compensating a panel defect with electrical data.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, in the information technology society, display devices have been widely utilized more than ever as a visual information communication medium. Cathode ray tube CRT and Braun tube in the current mainstream have problems due to their heavy weights and big sizes. For this reason, flat panel display devices, which overcome those limitations, have attracted considerable attention.
Examples of the flat panel display devices are liquid crystal displays (LCDs), field emission displays (FEDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), organic light emitting diodes (OLED), etc. A typical flat panel display device includes a display panel for displaying a picture. The test process of the flat panel detects panel defects (or mura defects). A panel defect is defined as a display spot accompanying brightness differences on a display screen. The panel defects are mostly generated during a fabricating process and may be seen in a fixed form, such as a dot, line, belt, circle, polygon, etc. or in an undetermined form depending on the cause of the generation. FIGS. 1 to 3 show some examples of the panel defects with various forms according to the related art.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a panel defect in an undetermined form, FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a panel defect in a vertical belt shape (or horizontal belt type), and FIG. 3 is view illustrating a panel defect in a fixed form. The panel defect in the vertical belt shape of FIG. 2 is generated mainly due to overlapping exposure, lens number difference, etc. The panel defect in the dot shape of FIG. 3 is generated mainly due to impurities. The pictures displayed in the locations of those panel defects in FIGS. 1-3 appear to be darker or brighter than ambient non-defect areas. Moreover, color differences may be present when the panel defect locations are compared with the non-defect areas.
The panel defects can cause defects in the final products and also decrease the production yield in accordance with the degree thereof. If a flat panel display device with panel defects is shipped as an otherwise good product, the panel defects deteriorate the picture quality, thereby lowering the reliability of the product. Accordingly, various methods, including improving the process technology, have been proposed in order to remove the panel defects. However, the related art can only decrease the panel defects rather than completely remove them.